Incidences of workplace violence on London underground stations
Request ID: FOI-2582-2324 Date published: 21 November 2023
You asked
Incidences of workplace violence on London underground stations between 01/01/2019 and 30/09/2019
I would like both but if the work involved in breaking it down by station is prohibitive I would be happy with it just classification.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-2582-2324 & FOI-2584-2324 Thank you again for your requests which we received on 19 October 2023, asking for incidents of workplace violence at LU stations. Your requests have been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold the information you require.
Our staff work hard to serve the millions of customers who use the transport network every day and have the right to go about their work without fear or intimidation. We take workplace violence extremely seriously and always encourage staff to report any instance of abuse whether physical or non-physical so that preventative measures can be taken, and the strongest penalties brought against offenders.
We have a specialist unit who work with both the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and British Transport Police (BTP) police services to investigate crimes against staff. This Workplace Violence and Aggression (WVA) team support staff and their managers, and assists the Police in the investigation of physical assault and verbal aggression against our staff, which can include public order offences and hate crime. Their purpose is to improve the quality of staff assault investigation and provide feedback to the Police and other criminal justice partners, as well as improve victim care and support provided by us.
The objective of this work is to encourage staff to report every incident, and over the last five years the WVA team have proactively engaged with staff across all types of transport to demonstrate the benefits of reporting. We have also rolled out the use of body won cameras for staff across our network since the end of 2020 to help reduce workplace violence.
We take a zero-tolerance approach to all types of staff abuse and seek the strongest penalties brought against offenders. When incidents do happen, our Police partners are ready to respond and with access to CCTV and staff body worn video, they can get vital evidence to identify suspects and make arrests.
You asked: Incidences of workplace violence on London underground stations between 01/01/2019 and 30/09/2019 Incidences of workplace violence on London underground stations between 01/01/2023 and 30/09/2023 I would like both but if the work involved in breaking it down by station is prohibitive I would be happy with it just classification. Please see the below table which shows all recorded Workplace Violence & Aggression crime incidents on the London Underground, that were reported to the police. It includes crime categories of 1A Violence, 2A Sexual Offences and 9A Serious Public Order, including whether the offence occurred on the station, on the train or lineside/other location. The data is based on the date it was recorded, not when the offence was committed. This is in keeping with how recorded crime data is released by the police. 1/1/2019 – 30/9/2019
Recorded WVA crimes
Station
On Train
Lineside / Other
Total
Violence
373
18
20
411
Sexual Offences
16
3
3
22
Serious Public Order
501
15
28
544
Total
890
36
51
977
1/1/2023 – 30/9/2023
Recorded WVA crimes
Station
On Train
Lineside / Other
Total
Violence
417
25
6
448
Sexual Offences
19
0
0
19
Serious Public Order
425
16
5
446
Total
861
41
11
913
With regard to breaking down the crime data by stations, there are instances where the station details recorded by the British Transport Police (BTP) aren’t always obvious so we wouldn’t be able to provide an accurate picture. In April 2020 we began to collate all reports of WVA, whether reported to the police or not, and broke them down into physical, threat and verbal abuse. This is a more sophisticated approach to measuring incidence of WVA. However, we were not doing this in 2019 so it would be impossible to provide a fair comparison over the two timeframes due to the different method of reporting. Therefore, incidents which were reported via other routes, but not reported to police aren’t included. If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me. Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed. Yours sincerely Eva Hextall FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
